The Great Battles of
World War II
Overlord The real story of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy
Issue No.1
FWG05 2013
PRINTED IN THE UK
ÂŁ7.99
The build-up
Planning the massive amphibious operation
Airborne assault Gripping accounts of the perilous midnight raids
Detailed illustrations
The Great Battles of World War II
The Great Battles of
World War II 6
The Great Battles: D-Day
Mondadori via Getty Images
Following crucial victories in 1942 at El Alaemin in North Africa, Stalingrad in the USSR and Medway in the Pacific, the Allies of the United States of America, the USSR, Great Britain and Commonwealth countries had begun to win more victories and push German forces further back…
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Preparation
Since 1943 American troops had been arriving en masse, either to complete the training they had started in their homeland, or to recover following campaigns in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The men were billeted in the homes of locals or in large camps that engulfed the countryside. The men trained by assaulting the beaches on the south coasts of England and Wales, practising manoeuvres in towns and countryside, and aiming artillery in the fields and mountains. In their spare time they visited towns and cities in their uniform, attended dances and befriended the locals. This build-up did not go unnoticed by the observant enemy.
06 Background - the origins of D-Day
TWIN ATTACK The dawn landings would be preceded by an airborne assault. Thousands of paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers would be dropped behind the beaches to secure or destroy vital roads and bridges, and cause maximum confusion among the unsuspecting defenders. This elaborate plan was designed to give the Allies a big enough
56 Utah - The most westerly point of the invasion, target of the US 4th Infantry 70 Omaha - Scene of the fiercest fighting 90 Pointe du Hoc - Elite squads storm German gun placements 98 British and Commonwealth - The assaults on Gold, Juno and Sword
D-Day aftermath 118-129 118 The big push - Overlord continues…
Preparation
foothold on the French coast to get the three million troops in Great Britain onto European soil within weeks. Everything rested on the first day of the invasion, codenamed D-Day. As 1943 moved into 1944, German units were being chewed up in the meat grinder that was the Russian front. The numbers of men in Britain swelled and they continued their training. Tidal patterns and moon cycles were examined to identify the most favourable time for both the airborne troops and those landing via sea. The most suitable conditions were found to be in early June, and 5 June was primarily given for the date of the invasion. Now all they had to rely on was secrecy and the weather. Despite temperatures of 100˚F in late May, the forecasts coming from Dr James Stagg and his meteorological team made for grim reading. Given the perilous circumstances that both the airborne and assault troops would face, the thought of rain, heavy cloud cover, poor visibility, strong winds and turbulent seas filled General Eisenhower with dread. By the time the first battleships had left port on Thursday 1 June, deep depressions over the North Atlantic had thrown the carefully laid plans into chaos. By the Saturday morning, weather stations in Ireland were
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The thought of rain, strong winds and rough seas filled General Eisenhower with dread. 14
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The Great Battles: D-Day
The elaborate plan was designed to give the Allies a big enough foothold on the French coast to get three million troops into Europe. detecting force six winds. Eisenhower, barely sleeping, constantly supplied with coffee and smoking four cartons of Camel cigarettes a day, did not want the near 180,000 troops in the first assault to be cooped up and lose their battle edge, but neither did he wish to risk their lives any more than was absolutely necessary. ANXIOUS WAIT Presented with the dire forecast by his advisors, he agreed to a provisional 24-hour postponement. At 4.15am on Sunday 4 June, when the situation hadn’t improved, Eisenhower alerted
The Atlantic Wall: A defensive barrier of minefields, fortifications and barbed wire fences, Hitler’s Atlantic Wall stretched from Scandinavia to the Spanish border. Construction was started in 1942 and continued until 1944.
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The Airborne Assault
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efore the tens of thousands of men on the beaches could be expected to land ahead of the Atlantic Wall and drive inland, three divisions of airborne infantry would help weaken the German forces’ capability to repel them. On each flank of the Normandy invasion front, thousands of paratroopers and men who swooped into battle in gliders were to use the surprise tactics so effectively employed by German airborne troops in the first years of the war. They were tasked with capturing and destroying strongpoints such as bridges, river crossings and towns to prevent the movement of reinforcements, and, crucially, to wreak havoc on the oblivious Germans. They would also be aided by the French Resistance, who were alerted to the invasion via radio codes and went about taking out vital German lines of communication.
• Cutting a path 24 • The jump 30 • 101st Airborne Division 38 • 82nd Airborne Division 40 • British 6th Airborne 46
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Beach landings 54-117
The Great Battles: D-Day
Continued from page 13 While codes were being broken and agents deployed, the troops earmarked for the invasion were busy studying maps and plans for the enormous, elaborate Operation Overlord. The plan had been argued over, dissected, analysed, scrutinised, argued over some more, and finally set in stone by the commanders of the armed forces of Great Britain, Canada and the United States, under Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight Eisenhower. The invasion would centre on the biggest amphibious assault ever staged, with tens of thousands of troops landing on five beaches on the Normandy coast, supported by the biggest combined naval and airborne force ever assembled, which would pound the miles of concrete bunkers and defences set up along the Atlantic Wall.
12 Plans - Preparing for the invasion 22 The Airborne Assault - The daring attack from the skies
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©Osprey Publishing
Contents
El Alamein, 1942: Soldiers and officers of the British infantry launch an attack.
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129 Index
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OVERLORD
Section Title
The real story of D-DAY and the invasion of Normandy 42
The Great Battles: D-Day
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ased at Fulbeck in England, the 442nd Troop Carrier Group was attached to the 52nd Wing for the D-Day airlift. The group’s four squadrons made up Serial 26 of Mission Boston and arrived over Drop Zone T between 02.39 and 02.42hrs on D-Day. The serial carried 45 sticks of paratroopers: 36 from the rifle companies of the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and nine sticks of the headquarters company. The group lost one plane on the approach, and suffered damage to 31 of its aircraft due to flak over the drop zone. This image shows aircraft from the 305th Troop Carrier Squadron (TCS), which carried the code 4J on their noses (1) (the other squadrons were J7: 303rd TCS; V4: 304th TCS; and 7H: 306th TCS). The C-47 was a military derivative
of the Douglas DC-3 civil airliner. The main structural difference between the two types was the use of a large cargo door on the left-rear side of the C-47 fuselage. The C-47 had simple, folding bench seats in the main cabin instead of conventional passenger seats. On paratrooper missions such as this, the typical load was one ‘stick’ of paratroopers, which usually totalled 18 to 20 men. Alternatively, fewer paratroopers and more cargo could be air-dropped. The paratrooper in the foreground, a Tech 5 from the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), is seen moments after jumping from the aircraft. After leaving the C-47, the aircraft’s slipstream tended to blow the paratrooper backward and curl him up. As the static line opened up the T-5 parachute pack, the olive drab canopy began to deploy (2).
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The large surface of area of the deploying canopy tended to swing the paratrooper around again, and within seconds, the shroud lines cleared the pack and the canopy blossomed, giving the paratrooper a hard jolt. Quick deployment of the parachute was essential since the drops were conducted from only 700ft. US paratroopers also carried a reserve chute on their chest (3). This paratrooper is armed with a .45 cal. Thompson sub-machine gun (4), which has been tucked under the waist web of the T-5 parachute harness to keep it in place. The paratroops carried a good deal of equipment into combat. Just visible under the harness is his yellow ‘Mae West’ life vest. His musette bag hangs under the reserve chute, an ammunition bag from his right hip (5), and an
assault gas mask in waterproof bag from his left hip (not visible). He has a fighting knife (6) strapped to his right leg above his jump boots. Although not visible here he also carries a .45 cal automatic in a holster on his hip with a folding knife in its scabbard in front of this. On his chest is a TL-122C flashlight (7). Paratroopers on D-Day wore the M1942 paratroop battledress with its distinctive pockets. The paratrooper’s M1C helmet (8) resembles the normal GI helmet, but has a modified liner and chinstrap to absorb the shock of the opening parachute. The first aid packet (9) taped to the front of the helmet for ready access contained a field dressing, tourniquet and morphine. Many paratroopers wore gloves to protect their hands during the jump.
Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA
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Boston Mission – 82nd Airborne Division over Drop Zone T, 02.40hrs, D-Day
Illustration and caption ©Osprey Publishing
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Survivors: Wounded men of the 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, lean against the chalk cliff face at Collevillesur-Mer to receive cigarettes and food.
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70 The Great Battles: D-Day
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach I
n the nervous hours leading up to D-Day, General Eisenhower wrote two versions of the announcement that would be released to the public at the end of the day. The first proclaimed that the dawn invasion had established a beachhead in France, while the second read: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, Air and Navy, did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If there is any blame or fault attached to the
attempt, it is mine alone.” The terrible, terrifying events that unfolded on Omaha Beach, in the middle of the Normandy front, meant that Eisenhower came desperately close to releasing the second statement.
• The build up 72 • H-Hour arrives 74 • The second wave 82 • High noon 88
In training: American troops of the 7th Naval Beach Battalion, photographed during a training exercise in Britain. For the invasion, the 7th was assigned to the western section of Omaha. Getty Images ©Xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx
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The Great Battles: D-Day
The Airborne Assault
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efore the tens of thousands of men on the beaches could be expected to land ahead of the Atlantic Wall and drive inland, three divisions of airborne infantry would help weaken the German forces’ capability to repel them. On each flank of the Normandy invasion front, thousands of paratroopers and men who swooped into battle in gliders were to use the surprise tactics so effectively employed by German airborne troops in the first years of the war. They were tasked with capturing and destroying strongpoints such as bridges, river crossings and towns to prevent the movement of reinforcements, and, crucially, to wreak havoc on the oblivious Germans. They would also be aided by the French Resistance, who were alerted to the invasion via radio codes and went about taking out vital German lines of communication.
• Cutting a path 24 • The jump 30 • 101st Airborne Division 38 • 82nd Airborne Division 40 • British 6th Airborne 46
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Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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The Great Battles: D-Day
Utah Beach A t 3am the sound of bombs landing on the biggest German batteries could be heard from the troop carriers nine miles off shore, as aircraft attempted to soften up the defences along the five beaches. Some 5,000 ships had assembled around the Isle of Wight at their rendezvous point, known as ‘Piccadilly Circus’. A fleet of 243 minesweepers then steamed ahead to France, opening up 400m-wide fast and slow lanes so the troop carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, amphibious tank launchers, casualty ships, ammunition boats,
repair ships, and all manner of landing craft could follow towards Normandy. To the east, beaches codenamed Gold, Juno and Sword were the targets for the British and Canadian forces, who were to push on to capture the town of Caen; while to the west of Bayeux, the US First Army’s V and VII Corps would be respectively responsible for Omaha and the most westerly point of the invasion, Utah.
• The first wave 58 • The aerial bombardment 62
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Getty Images
Utah Beach
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The Great Battles: D-Day
In training: American troops of the 7th Naval Beach Battalion, photographed during a training exercise in Britain. For the invasion, the 7th was assigned to the western section of Omaha. Getty Images ŠXxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx
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Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach I
n the nervous hours leading up to D-Day, General Eisenhower wrote two versions of the announcement that would be released to the public at the end of the day. The first proclaimed that the dawn invasion had established a beachhead in France, while the second read: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, Air and Navy, did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If there is any blame or fault attached to the
attempt, it is mine alone.” The terrible, terrifying events that unfolded on Omaha Beach, in the middle of the Normandy front, meant that Eisenhower came desperately close to releasing the second statement.
• The build up 72 • H-Hour arrives 74 • The second wave 82 • High noon 88
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The Great Battles: D-Day
D-Day +1: British soldiers march through the medieval streets of Bayeux, a town they liberated on 7 June after landing at nearby Gold Beach the previous morning. AFP/Getty Images
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British & Commonwealth Beaches
Gold Beach The British invasion began later than the US landings further along the coast, with the task of taking the town of Bayeux the prime objective
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lthough the troops’ assault of the British beaches didn’t commence until 7:30am – an hour after the American D-Day landing – the naval bombardment began at 3am, giving extra time to soften up the robust German defences. The most westerly of the British beaches, Gold, right in the centre of the invasion front, was intended to take pressure off and link up with the crucial American landings at Omaha. The task of landing first fell to the 50th Northumbrian Division, which aimed to get footholds in the towns of La Rivière to the left and Arromanches to the right and advance seven miles inland to Bayeux by the end of the day. BOMBING SUPPORT The beach itself was desperately short in places, leading up to the Atlantic Wall and even high ground on the right, making the naval and aerial support to take out defensive fortifications and the heavy coastal battery at Longues vital. The bombers had comparatively little impact on the well-constructed German positions, but the naval bombardment from the mythologicallyinspired HMS Argonaut and Ajax was far more successful. The British command also put a greater emphasis on support of tanks, guns and specially-built armoured vehicles. Instead of launching as far out as the Americans, the order was given to launch the amphibious Sherman DDs at 5,000 yards. However, seeing the size of the waves they were expected to advance through, the Sherwood Rangers
Yeomanry and 4th/7th Dragoon Guards actually launched at just 1,000 yards. Some were still swamped by the ferocious seas, but losses were far less than on the American sector. However, the seas delayed the Sherwoods, meaning on the right the troops of the Royal Hampshires and 1st Dorsets on the right wing at Le Hamel landed ahead of their armour and were hammered by the German defenders; their commanding officer were killed immediately. They waded ashore and took hours to clear the area. By the time Gunner Charles Wilson of the 147th Field Regiment arrived, the scene in front of Le Hamel was as bad as the most fiercely defended sections of Omaha. “The beach was strewn with wreckage, a blazing tank, bundles of blankets and kit, bodies
and bits of bodies,” he recalled. “One bloke near me was blown in half by a shell and his lower part collapsed in a bloody heap in the sand.” ENTER THE COMMANDOS The elite 47 Commando of the Royal Marines landing in the same area, suffered similar losses to their US Ranger counterparts including all their wireless radios. Yet they still managed to advance west along the coast towards the Longues-ser-Mer battery towards Omaha, while field artillery was brought into play straight away to support the advance. Lt Tony Richardson of the Essex Artilery was steadfast in his mission to get ashore and exchange fire with the Germans. “The sea was rough. The boys wanted to stop and pick up the
“The beach was strewn with wreckage, a blazing tank and bodies…” Gunner Charles Wilson 101
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The Great Battles: D-Day Battle scarred: Soldiers take a brief respite after taking the Normandy beaches.
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The aftermath
Getty Images
The ďŹ rst, frantic hours of D-Day were over. Despite the terrible toll, the invasion force had succeeded in its initial objective‌
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The Great Battles of
World War II A complete guide to D-Day that brings the story of Operation Overlord’s brutal battle to life like never before. • Captivating tales of bravery • Stories from the troops • Stunning photography • Detailed illustrations
How it happened: the Normandy landings, from the planning to the final push
Blow-by-blow accounts of the savage and bloody battles for the beaches
The crucial raids made by thousands of paratroopers the night before D-Day
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Illustrated guides showcasing the key millitary hardware that made a difference
Relive the defining moments of Europe’s fiercest fight
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